I find the mental part of it is much more difficult than the physical. We have a lot of rituals, expectations, emotions, and pleasures tied up with food, far beyond physical sustaining ourselves. Though as we switch from burning fat, to burning sugar, there may be a short period of mental drop-off, where our brain is scrambling for fuel, until it remembers, 'oh, yeah, I've got all this fat and ketones!', I find the mental desire to eat, for various reasons, to be the real difficulty.

I'm on hour 58 now, feeling good hunger-wise. My fast coincided with the late arrival of my period, and I've been having some severe cramps this time, so I have barely noticed any hunger issues. My main physical concern has been 'when will these darn cramps subside?!?'. A few times I have smelled some food, and felt hungry, but that was about it.

Hi everyone!
I'm on day 2, technically at 41 hours with my last meal at 6pm Tuesday evening.
I go between feelings of feeling euphoric, mentally sharp and Wonder Woman strong at my emotional mental strength and feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and hungry - but I think most of the hunger is emotional, habitual.

My most difficult time was sitting at dinner with my family last night. The smells of the food and the fresh veggies espeically made me so close to reaching for one, but I didn't, and somehow that makes success all the sweeter. I feel empowered to know that my strength over food can be over-ruled, and I do have willpower. I was NOT exibiting my will power over the holidays and I needed this boost to feel fit and strong again. It's working!

People at work think I'm crazy and some think it's quite extreme. I assure them it's safe and I physically feel great. It's amazing how many people wouldn't even consider this easy, simple, and FREE method of clearing your head, and your body of toxins - both mental and physical.

When I'm struggling emotionally, I remember how good it felt to overcome my desire to eat and that seems to work.
I have been squeezing a slice of lime into my distilled water when I need something different - overall drinking about 1 gallon a day. I'll also put lemon into hot water and I like that better than tea, but yesterday did call for a Yogi Ginger Lemon tea in the afternoon. Black coffee this morning (1/2 cup) made me jittery so I stopped drinking that.

Thanks for the support! I plan on fasting until breakfast this Saturday, where I'll go all day with fruits and veggies.

You're brave to tell people at work that you are fasting. In general, it has such a negative reputation in our culture. People immediately think of anorexia and/or starvation. If I find myself in a group food experience during fasting, I just lie, and say my stomach hasn't been feeling well, so I'll 'take a rest' from the food. I do NOT want to deal with all the 'concerns' people will throw at me.

Glad you are feeling better, Richard. Have you ever looked at the alternate-day fasting plan? There are a few links in the threads to a program presented on BBC about it(I think, by a company called Horizon), that are very interesting.

I wasn't going to tell anyone at work I was fasting until my boss told me she was planning on us havving a client here for lunch tomorrow. I buckled under pressure when she asked why I wanted to move it until Monday and couldn't come up with a lie quickly enough. LOL. She is concerned and thinks I'm nuts, but then asked questions about it and I told her how good I feel and that it's a safe thing to do, that I never feel weak or lightheaded. Plus, I don't care what she thinks.

Morning all~
Starting day 3 here, so far so good. Fighting a cold so my sense of taste/smell is really off ~ between that and no appetite, it's really easy. Lost about 5 pounds so far, glad the bloat is gone. I'd like to continue another day or two, haven't really decided~ would like to whip this cold and maybe lose another 5 pounds~

Morning all~
Starting day 3 here, so far so good. Fighting a cold so my sense of taste/smell is really off ~ between that and no appetite, it's really easy. Lost about 5 pounds so far, glad the bloat is gone. I'd like to continue another day or two, haven't really decided~ would like to whip this cold and maybe lose another 5 pounds~

Glad you are losing the weight you want to. I have yet to weigh myself but curious. I think I read on one of the fasting threads that after their fast they gained quite a bit back. I'm sure a person would because of (I hate to sound gross but...), with the fasting, we are completely cleaned out. Anyone have any idea how much "matter" we have in our intestines as a rule? Be interested as that weight will come back for sure. Nice to know how much we really lose fasting.

Nothing to eat just drank some coffee yesterday and water. 2 walks in the cold. 52 minutes in the morning @ -6C with a wind chill feels like -9C......24 minute in the evening -10C with wind chill feels like -14.

60 minutes in sauna in the evening while meditating @ 60C, followed by 10 minute cold shower.

No exercise except the walk.

Feel great, not hungry at all. Not going to weigh myself until I cave in to the food.

Although I am not doing the fasting for weight loss, it is gratifying to see the dramatic drops downward (since I AM over-weight, and in my 'regular life' am working on fixing that). I KNOW it is just bloat, for the most part, from holiday eating, but seeing 2 pounds, and then a further 3.5 pounds, makes me smile.